Episode 16.
Despite changing up the events slightly everything that they needed to cover was covered (including the impact of Hughs’ death on Winry and the brothers which I thought was well done).
Next episode: The persecution of Maria Ross and Armstrong get serious.
Episode 16: I agree… the sadness of Hughes’ death which was completely leached from the actual event comes back in full force here… really well done. I’m still not seeing anything like the suspense and complexity of the original anime just yet, hopefully it gets better.
Patience Cid.
Awesome stuff is gonna start with episode 17, and then probably go on for several episodes of straight sweetness.
By the time we get to the end, provided they do it all right, I’d be surprised if you still thought the plot of the first anime series was better.
I just saw Episode 17. The thing with Ross is done already, so it’s pretty much all set for the First Free-For-All Central Rapefest, though it seems they are reversing the order and going through the inspection of Xerxes first… dunno why, but what the hell.
For my own viewing pleasure… would it be too much to ask that we refrain from discussing the latest episode until it’s out on FUNimation.com? I’m following the official subs (and frankly I don’t see much reason not to do so, they’re free, easy to get to and professionally done). Even with the spoiler tags there’s often bits and pieces that spill out…
I just saw Episode 17.
While I thought the pacing in the last episode was good, this one goes back to a really rushed feel. Last week I thought the episode would end on what happened at the half-way point. Ah well.
From what I’ve seen they haven’t reversed the order of events yet, but it does look like they’re going to try to break up the upcoming free-for-all to save the other half for the episode after since the manga had the upcoming rumble set in one continuous stream of chapters with Xerxes and the resulting info dump trailing for another series of chapters (thus breaking up the info dump as well).
That said, I thought that what they left out worked since it left an air of drama and mystery that they’ll cover in the next episode. The only noticeable omissions I spotted was Barry explaining why Ling’s home country matter’s to him enough to release Ling, and Edward’s comment of not having to head back home to repair his arm since Winry was within five feet of him. Otherwise this episode did exactly what I thought it was going to do and end with the right before the first of the upcoming series massive brawls starts.
Anyways next episode will feature Barry the Chopper versus Barry the Chopper. Get into da choppa. 
Episode 18!
[SPOILER]So they show Maria Ross is alive. It’s kinda soon, and kinda disappointing. I remember reading the manga for the first time and seriously thinking Mustang actually killed her for quite awhile. By going into the brawl in Central first without dealing with the fate of Maria Ross, it led me to be kind of conflicted about Mustang, though I was cheering for him when he ultimately killed you-know-who (just in case you’re reading these spoiler tags, CID). But oh well.
Otherwise, the episode was good. Once again the pace has slowed a bit, I wish they’d keep it consistent.[/SPOILER]
I how they were totally waving a fake death flag for Hawkeye in the preview 
So did anyone else spot the MASSIVE PLOT HOLE in this episode? :fungah:
[SPOILER]It’s going to take some serious handwaving to get Fu who’s now en route to Xing with Ross back into Central in time for his duel with Envy. Of course they may have decided to write out that portion to the slugfest, but that still leaves out an important detail about Envy which will be brought to light in one of the later brawls.
This will probably come back to bite this version in the ass, but that’s what happens when you try to do things out of order.[/SPOILER]
Well damn, you’re right.
[SPOILER]I totally missed that the first time around. Wow. They probably have something planned out, it’s not like they do these episodes the night before with no planning ahead like a freaking sprite comic creator or something >_>;;
It’ll be interesting, then, to see how they pull all that together and make it all work.[/SPOILER]
Umm Killmore… which bit are you talking about?
[SPOILER]Since this bit in the manga, when Barry’s body showed up, has a duel between Envy and Ran Fan (the girl), not Fu (the old man). Unless you are thinking of a later fight that I have forgotten about.
If I have forgot some fight, then couldn’t they simply replace Fu with Ran Fan, and still have it in? [/SPOILER]
Yeah, no idea what he’s talking about either. Fu went with Ed and Armstrong to Xerxes in the manga too, only Ling and Ran Fan were in Amestris at the time. In fact, Fu doesn’t come back until the “Everyone And Their Mother Vs Pride” fight. The one who notices Envy’s weight is Ling, and he doesn’t bring it up until he and Ed are inside Gluttony.
That may be it.
[SPOILER]I’m probably getting the two confused since I may have thought that Fu wears a mask too (and if that were the case they’d look pretty much identical). I could’ve sworn that it was Fu who confronted Envy while Ran-Fan was fighting elsewhere.
If that’s the case then the free-for-all is still on track.[/SPOILER]
Fake edit: Just checked the manga and yeah I was wrong. It was Ran-Fan. Oh well, false alarm then. ::doh::
Episode 19: Hooooooooooooooly shit! That was awesome. I was waiting for that scene since the anime started and I’m glad they did it just right.
Re: 19, [SPOILER]Hellz yeah it was pretty awesome. I figured they might do something to censor Lust’s burning to death, but nope!
Though I groaned at the boobie joke. But hey, it’s the last time we’ll see her magnificent rack.
The end of the last episode and the start of this one were a bit cheesey though.
Ep 18: HAY HAWKEYE IS TOTALLY GONNA DIE SRSLY GUYS!
Start of Ep 19: SRSLY SHE’S GONNA DIE WE’RE TOTALLY FORESHADOWING HERE!
Ep 19: j/k lol
Also like when I read the manga, I was kind of sad to see Barry go. He was way more fun in this version than he was in the first anime series. The flopping of his metal plate was a nice touch, at least he went out on a silly note.
Aaaaand next episode: OH SNAP![/SPOILER]
I’m glad the pace has slowed down a bit. And daddy’s home 
Well after seeing episode 19 it appears that I was more right about 18’s plot hole than we thought.
It turns out that they ended up leaving out vs. Envy aspect of this free-for-all like I thought they were going to do after all. That also includes Fuu/Ran-Fan/whatever’s comment about Envy’s presence which actually turns into an important point about the Philosopher Stone and those who use it later on in the series.
Otherwise the episode was indeed awesome and a half. Can’t wait for the next throwdown (which should be in the next three episodes or something to that effect).
Mmm must admit really loved how they did episode 19, felt it was really well paced.
And Killmore, while they left out the fight between Ling and Ran Fan vs Envy and Guttony, I think the last two episodes would have been too rushed if they had left them in. And that comment about Envy, can easily be slipped in later should they need it in. When they run into Envy later. They could even throw it in, just before they enter the ‘fake gate’, or while even while in there, if you know what I mean. Since that is the only point they need it really I guess. But we will see, how they do it.
[STRIKE]Well there’s that and something else I forgot. Because of that fight Mustang’s crew got to see Envy’s shapeshifting ability ability plus Ran-fan would’ve shown off her ability to sense the homunculus which earns her the homunculus’ Wrath in the next throwdown.[/STRIKE]
You know it suddenly occurred to me why they [SPOILER]didn’t include Envy and Gluttony vs. Ran-Fan and Ling portion of the throwdown. That portion of the fight was ended by Pride. This is important since in the manga he was represented by just a text bubble whereas in the anime it would’ve required Pride’s VA to speak up and as anyone who’s read up to Pride’s formal introduction would know that it would’ve been a dead giveaway to his identity.
In other words they had to cut it out to preserve a mystery that wouldn’t be addressed for a long time to come despite the risks of developing plotholes.[/SPOILER]
I take back every and all of my complaints about the handling of the last two episodes.